Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime & FREE Returns

FREE delivery Wednesday, July 6 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon. Order within 18 hrs 40 mins

Only 20 left in stock (more on the way).

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.

[{"displayPrice":"$16.95","priceAmount":16.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"16","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"GytOUZEwnEZVAUOdVy65nIi4%2FrGQV6VDQKPCgCSnolg74%2F%2Bc%2BXKQuzqteYrRFDZNOYWbMi6ygHC5LkGrwox2gQevKJbntouLzF38z7hZUeblf0CXiDV1XREUnIl704JOgK%2FmHCfMfdkXa2F8QW3NCg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$15.04","priceAmount":15.04,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"15","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"04","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"GytOUZEwnEZVAUOdVy65nIi4%2FrGQV6VDrwJSY2bSMPyaafbbmQmYILuZO51Zwxsaxz6XArY597hPQCpH7F8bko%2F%2FsXDcY2mc5jo7sbCimA6a4O%2Bgp%2FyVMQcBL%2B9lSMv7W2Dve3kKlS0j6QASPTKJoJ%2FQQxdCxX34Yq1mzWXdj1YgvlIH%2FuRx6KiOpaYmalNw","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$16.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

FREE delivery July 8 - 13. Details

Select delivery location

: | Details

Sold by Hippo Books

Share <Embed>

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$21.69
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: TheWorldShopUSA

Added

Not added

$25.73
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: GrandEagleRetail

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Helen Garner

The Children's Bach Hardcover – November 6, 2018

by Helen Garner (Author), Ben Lerner (Introduction)

40 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.49

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$16.95

$11.06

Paperback

"Please retry"

$11.25

—

$11.25

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

$23.15

—

Audio CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$4.04

$21.13

Enhance your purchase

"A celebration of family life in the context of the thousand natural shocks that it is heir to in modern times." ―Book World

Athena and Dexter Fox lead a contended family life. Dexter is gregarious and opinionated. Athena runs an ordered household. They live in Bunker Street with their sons, Arthur and Billy. Billy's autism is a focus for their attention and efforts, yet life is fairly peaceful.

But the arrival of Dexter's old friend Elizabeth, with her three charismatic companions, reveals the existence of a different world. One in which contingency and choice play a far greater role. The collision between these worlds will test everything that has held the Fox family together.

In this powerful story, painted on a small canvas and with a subtle musical backdrop, Helen Garner acknowledges the magnitude of everyday decisions and their consequences.

The Children's Bach is Garner's second novel. It won the SA Premier's Literary Award. First published in 1984, to critical acclaim, it has never before been available in the United States.

Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays, and non-fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature. In 2016 she won a prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for her non-fiction. Her book of essays, Everywhere I Look, won the 2017 Indie Book Award.

Ben Lerner is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. He has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and is currently a MacArthur Fellow.

Frequently bought together

+

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

One of these items ships sooner than the other.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

by Helen Garner Hardcover
$16.95
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Jul 6 FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Only 20 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
by Helen Garner Hardcover
$16.48
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Jul 6 FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Only 17 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Helen Garner
464
Paperback
49 offers from $1.38
205
Audio CD
2 offers from $32.93
17
Audio CD
2 offers from $31.57
Helen Garner
62
Audio CD
13 offers from $15.10
41
Audio CD
3 offers from $32.37

Editorial Reviews

Review

‘Garner wears her mastery lightly―the novel never draws undue attention to its own modernist tricks. Unfolding, as the title suggests, like a halting piece of music, its effects are subtle and unexpected.’―Harper’s Magazine

Review

"What a wonderful writer. Her prose is spare and beautiful, her stories are truthful and touching. There are very few writers that I admire more than Helen Garner."―David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY, and US

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Text Publishing Company (November 6, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 196 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1925773043
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1925773040
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #842,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,157 in City Life Fiction (Books)
- #3,438 in Women's Divorce Fiction
- #14,604 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction

Customer Reviews:
40 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Helen Garner

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Helen Garner was born in 1942 in Geelong, and was educated there and at Melbourne University. She taught in Victorian secondary schools until 1972, when she was dismissed for answering her students’ questions about sex, and had to start writing journalism for a living.

Her first novel, Monkey Grip, came out in 1977, won the 1978 National Book Council Award, and was adapted for film in 1981. Since then she has published novels, short stories, essays, and feature journalism. Her screenplay The Last Days of Chez Nous was filmed in 1990. Garner has won many prizes, among them a Walkley Award for her 1993 article about the murder of two-year-old Daniel Valerio. In 1995 she published The First Stone, a controversial account of a Melbourne University sexual harassment case. Joe Cinque’s Consolation (2004) was a non-fiction study of two murder trials in Canberra.

In 2006 Helen Garner received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature. Her most recent novel, The Spare Room (2008), won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Queensland Premier’s Award for Fiction and the Barbara Jefferis Award, and has been translated into many languages.

Helen Garner lives in Melbourne.

Customer reviews

5 star		49%
4 star		29%
3 star		15%
2 star		4%
1 star		4%

How customer reviews and ratings work